The Handbook of Adult and Continuing Education

Co-published with 

Colleges and universities are
increasingly becoming significant sites for adult education scholarship—in
large part due to demographic shifts. With fewer U.S. high school graduates on
the horizon, higher education institutions will need to attract “non-traditional”
(i.e., older) adult learners to remain viable, both financially and politically.
There is a need to develop a better corpus of scholarship on topics as diverse
as, what learning theories are useful for understanding adult learning? How are
higher education institutions changing in response to the surge of adult
students? What academic programs are providing better learning and employment
outcomes for adults in college? Adult education scholars can offer much to the
policy debates taking place in higher education.

A main premise of this handbook is
that adult and continuing education should not simply respond to rapidly
changing social, economic, technological, and political environments across the
globe, but should lead the way in preparing adults to become informed,
globally-connected, critical citizens who are knowledgeable, skilled, and open
and adaptive to change and uncertainty.

The Handbook of Adult
and Continuing Education provides
rich information on the contemporary issues and trends that are of concern to
adult and continuing education, of the programs and resources available to
adult learners, and of opportunities to challenge and critique the structures
embedded in the field that perpetuate inequity and social injustice. Adult
education is a discipline that foresees a better tomorrow, and The Handbook is designed to engage and
inspire readers to assist the field to seek new paths in uncertain and complex
times, ask questions, and to help the field flourish.

The Handbook is divided into five
sections. The first, Foundations
situates the field by describing the developments, core debates, perspectives,
and key principles that form the basis of the field.

The second, Understanding Adult Learning , includes
chapters on adult learning, adult development, motivation, access,
participation, and support of adult learners, and mentoring.

Teaching Practices and
Administrative Leadership , the third section, offers chapters on organization and
administration, program planning, assessment and evaluation, teaching
perspectives, andragogy and pedagogy, public pedagogy, and digital technologies
for teaching and learning.

The fourth section is
Formal and Informal Learning Contexts .
Chapters cover adult basic, GED, and literacy education, English-as-a-Second
Language Programs, family literacy, prison education, workforce development,
military education, international development education, health professions
education, continuing professional education, higher education, human resource
development and workplace learning, union and labor education, religious and
spiritual education, cultural institutions, environmental education, social and
political movements, and peace and conflict education.

The concluding Contemporary Issues section discusses decolonizing adult and continuing education, adult education and
welfare, teaching social activism, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and
straight allies, gender and its multiple forms, disability, older adults and
intergenerational identities, race and ethnicity, working class, whiteness and
privilege, and migrants and migrant education.

The editors culminate
with consideration of next steps for adult and continuing education and priorities for the future.